30-Days of Silence Day 21

When out today, I walked by a garden of flowers, and I felt a nudge to take in the beauty if it. At that moment I noticed how not present I had been just moments before. I then remembered how reverent the walking was at a silent retreat I attended last year. In this retreat ALL our needs were tended to, so we were able to focus solely on our silence and internal questioning. It was great! One of the many positive results from it was when my mind slowed, it was easy to just pay attention to where I was, what was in front of me, and what I was doing. It’s amazing how much is missed when I’m in my head thinking about what’s coming or what’s already happened, or what I hope for, or what I regret.

I felt the heat of the sun on my skin; the breeze felt flowing through my hair and lifting it up a bit here and there; I smelled the faint aroma of flowers, then looked down at the splashes of color in front of me — all shapes and sizes and colors, all vibrant, all magnificent; and I heard birds cheerfully chirping away. The world slows WAY down and, for me anyway, gets sweeter.